92 Starlet Overheating - have i killed it

savemejebus

Hi,

I've a 1992 1L toyota starlet with about 115,000 miles on the clock. It's been serviced less than a month ago, I've had it since 92,000 and it never gave me a single day's trouble until today.

Myself and the GF went for a bit of a drive in teh countryside, not a very long drive, maybe 25 miles round trip. I needed petrol so filled the car before we left. We drove about 11 miles and pulled into a scenic area for a walk, but when pulling in the car started spluttering and cutting out. I thought, feck dirty petrol but as we were getting out of the car I noticed a burning rubber kind of smell. I checked the engine coolant and it was above the low mark. I didn't know what to do so i figured it must be the petrol.

About an hour later we came back to the car, it started up ok and we drove on but about 7 miles later the car started spluttering as we made a turn (down in 2nd gear) and i noticed that the thermostat was steadily rising. We were in the arseend of nowhere so i drove on hoping to find a petrol station however a couple of miles later at a junction the car conked out and steam rose from underneath the bonnet. I raised the bonnet and the steam was coming from the back of the engine rather than the radiator , which surprised me plus it didn't look like the coolant was going down. Anyway, long story short I managed to get the car home after stopping multiple times to let it cool down.

I have no clue of engines or anything so was wondering if anyone could guess as to:
1) What the issue could be based on my crap description.
2) Have i messed up the car totally by limping it home. (ideally i would have left it at a petrol station or something but all my family are away and i'd have been totally stranded)

any help would be greatly appreciated.

mike65

I dunno the layout of the engine but do any of the coolant pipes run around the back of the engne? It could be a case of a leak or badly tightend joint.

That burning rubber smell has me wondering if a pipe was resting against the engine block/exhaust sheild etc and a small hole got got created.

Have you run the engine since?

Mike

savemejebus

It did look like there was a pipe going around the back but i couldn't be sure will have to check. I did run the engine, just for a minute as i wanted to make sure the radiator fan was spinning, and it was.

edit: ok just started the car up no problems, and let it idle for around 5-7 mins, revving occasionally and there was no rise on the thermostat. I can't see any leaks and the reservoir isn't emptying very quickly or anything.

One strange thing i noticed was that when the car was overheating I turned on the heater in the car to see if it could expel some of the excess heat and no air came out of it. It was strange.

crosstownk

From what you say it doesn't appear top be a leak. It could well be a knackered water pump or a stuck thermostat. You might be better off not driving it to avoid further damage. If the head gasket hasn't gone from you limping it home, further driving will increase the chances of it going. If you do have to drive it the garage/mechanic be sure not to let it get hot. Stop and let it cool down if necessary.

Fey!

For your sake, I hope it's the same problem I had recently; a pipe had popped off behind the engine, and the coolant from it was evaporating off the engine causing it to steam.

If you have AA/RAC cover, now would be the time to use it. If you don't, then consider getting it; always handy with older cars.

savemejebus

cheers for the advice lads, am gonna telephone my mechanic tomorrow and see if he can come out to take a look. I've heard horror stories about head gaskets going, hope it's not that.